A 86 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019


SK TRAVEL MANAGERS about mav- erick travellers and everyone has a story to tell. It’s human nature to bend the rules, but for a few trav- ellers defiance starts in pre-school and ends in belligerence in hotel bars. Typically, the industry is tight-lipped about these outliers. “I have a few stories but none


that would be suitable for sharing or that aren’t covered by contractual NDAs!” says one anonymous travel manager. It seems the most shocking stories of defiant travellers only come to light in a confes- sional, in confidence, or through the courts. Take “Xavier X”, the married French business- man who had sex with a stranger on a business trip. Not so extraordinary… the only issue was he had a heart attack and died in the act. His


company, a French engineering company, was held to be liable. It raised eyebrows in the global travel management community because it was deemed an “accident du travail”; yes, an accident at work! His employers argued they weren’t accountable


as Xavier was not even in the hotel room it had booked and he committed an adulterous act. The judges disagreed saying an employee on a work trip remains the responsibility of the employer, regardless of what the employee does during and after work hours. It’s certainly had some managers scrambling to review their travel policies and think hard about such eventualities. “Within any policy there should be very clear guidelines on what is and isn’t accept- able behaviour,” explains Jo-Anne Lloyd, partner at Nina & Pinta. “All organisations should ensure that workers are familiar with it. That way, they can at least demonstrate that they did everything within their duty-of-care to ensure that their employees are aware of the company policies and their own responsibilities.” she adds. Like doctors, travel managers are in the business of diagnosing and dealing with maladies, albeit travel ones, offering up prescriptions, cures or even better preventative measures. The proverbial medical bag isn’t full of stetho-


WORDS NICK EASEN


scopes or forceps but travel policies, booking tools and out-of-hours calls with TMCs. And as the case studies that Buying Business Travel can (legally) share, it’s essential for travel managers to stay one step ahead of their travellers.


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